Divinity: Original Sin - Review @ RPG Codex

Good news then, the concept is still being iterated on and evolving!

Shame on that GB reviewer. I just read the conclusion. But it was enough for me not to take this review seriously, and further waste my time reading the entire article.

Swen:

The only information I can share is that it's a racing game featuring dragons, sheep and naked men. There's also a gorilla.

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Dragons = Godzilla
Gorilla = King Kong
naked men = white woman
sheep = look here

Thrasher said:

Shame on that GB reviewer. I just read the conclusion. But it was enough for me not to take this review seriously, and further waste my time reading the entire article.

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The end of the world as we know it -> the Watch agrees more to the Codex than to the Banshee

Well, FWIW, in general, the GB reviews have been hit or miss, and mainly miss, unless Buck writes them.

True points of the GB review:

- traits are "interesting" - I'd rather say they're rudimentarily thought through. The shoehorning of character "personalities" into the game via patch only half-heartedly adresses the problem that 1) it's really about blatant powergaming and 2) no one wants to argue with themselves.

- nothing except combat skills warrants much investment. You can rob people blind without thief skills just fine, for example.

- "chaining" is a PITA.

- global writing "a little lacking"

- the same could have been achieved in a smaller game


They even abstained from mentioning the very many horrible balance issues the game still has. This review isn't edgy at all, well, movement keys aside.

- nothing except combat skills warrants much investment. You can rob people blind without thief skills just fine, for example.

it is not forbidden to have obsolete skill in a CRPG (everyone should know it since the Realms of Arkania series)

- "chaining" is a PITA.
I think it is an intuitive control

- global writing "a little lacking"
short term, lokal writing on the other hand is superb, with really good c&c

- the same could have been achieved in a smaller game
nope - quest density is already very high and there are no filler combat areas

If there was ever a case for a game being too long, it would be D:OS. I think that's my biggest complaint with the game itself. It just grew to be a tedious bore with too many of the same types of encounters 2/3 of the way in. This also gets extrapolated to a certain degree with useless skills that are just *there* for the sake of there being more stuff (useless as it may be).

I'll finish it one of these days; My playthrough is stalled for the timebeing at lvl 18.

...oh, and the random loot sucks ass. Nothing quite like using legendary boots found in a cupboard at level 2 for the next 13 levels.

Personally, I wish the game had been much bigger and longer. It was actually one of the only games from the last 10 years where, by the end, I wasn't thinking "I'm ready for this to end..."

The mark of a 'perfect' game is that you never want it to end. After 250+ hrs, I still want to play DOS. Where are the mods? A new campaign?? DLCs???

HiddenX said:

it is not forbidden to have obsolete skill in a CRPG (everyone should know it since the Realms of Arkania series)

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uhm… not forbidden, now. But bad style.

- "chaining" is a PITA.
I think it is an intuitive control

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The process itself, maybe. But the drag&drop interface? Nah.

- the same could have been achieved in a smaller game
nope - quest density is already very high and there are no filler combat areas

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They could have crammed that character development and story into a much smaller game. That's not to say that the areas that are there are bad… but the flaws i.e. of character progression get much more obvious the more leveling you do.

I'm a mathematician and I studied Operations Research. I love optimization tasks/exercises.

But in a game my main interest is just to have fun. I love to fiddle around with character building, combat tactics, gear etc., but part of the fun for me is:
a) beat a game even with non-perfect characters
b) play through bad decisions
c) play with unnecessary skills, traits - just for kicks
d) keep up the challenge

That's roleplaying for me. Humans are not perfect beings.

If you powerplay a CRPG, you can exploit every CRPG sooner or later,
because the character efficiency is just a function in many variables (attributes, gear, traits, …) with many local maxima.
If you find too many good local maxima for each character the game could be broken (too easy, becomes boring,…)

It's not just about powergaming. You can game the system now, you could do so if there were more useful skills too. The point is that IMO the game's many systems aren't really strong enough to be all ecstatic about it. It'll be more fun once the balance holes are closed, but it's still just a good game, not more. I'm right there with the GB review.

I have to disagree.
It's so much more than just a good game. It lets you go creative.

Sure it has it's shortcomings (random loot and overall balance) but it delivers on the most important aspects every game should concentrate on - it's fun, it's not boring, not irritating and not annoying.

I'll just continue to praise this year. So far the only RPG title I wasn't satisfied with is Bound by Flame, I've expected more after Mars. Honestly, so much fun with fresh RPGs, not just Original Sin, but also TsoT, R3 and TitS I haven't felt in years. And for sure it's not the end of awsomeness, new KB is just about to be out, then we get W2, AoD, DA3, probably even more.
RPG of the year will be a tough call but if you ask me, although not a completely perfect game, D:OS deserves it. So far, dunno if those newcomers will nail everything perfectly.

As you may notice I didn't mention the mainstream grinder that's listed as RPG here and there, praised by critics and audience, I mean advertised by critics and audience. Not gonna buy that one ever and am not ruining my braincells with such things, sorry.